Night fell, and in the dark sky, countless stars emerged, shining brightly.
Han Li sat cross-legged in the center of the white stone square, looking up at the sky. His eyes were like mirrors, reflecting a little bit of starlight.
The time dao pattern on the Wheel of Truth could only be restored every year, and it took a very long time.
In the case that he couldn't find a way to get out, Han Li had to wait slowly. During this period, he planned to continue to practice the Great Heavenly Star Energy Art to open up more mysterious apertures and try to break through the realm to reach the level of Golden Immortal.
With a casual toss, a blue crystal light flew out of his palm and turned into dozens of streams of light, sprinkling on the 81 star positions like a fairy scattering flowers.
As soon as these star stones fell into the array, the surface immediately flashed with crystal light, spreading out pieces of starlight, illuminating the entire square.
At the same time, Han Li opened his mouth and spat out seven blue star rings one after another. They spun in the air, scattered, and hovered in the night sky.
Even though the Seven Glorious Star Rings weren't a part of the formation, they were still star treasures, after all, so they were still very useful for gathering the power of starlight. As such, Han Li naturally wasn't going to leave them lying around.
As he made hand gestures and chanted, the starlight above the entire array began to gradually expand, covering the entire square bit by bit.
Han Li looked at the deep night sky. He only felt that the distance between him and the night sky seemed to be rapidly narrowing. Those stars that looked small in the past were becoming bigger and bigger, and the light on them was becoming more and more intense.
Every star looked like a miniature version of the sun, dazzling to the extreme.
At this moment, if there were outsiders present, they would be shocked to find that Han Li's eyes no longer had black pupils. His whole eyes had become snow-white, as if filled with glittering starlight.
"Bang!" A loud sound rang out!
The starlight in the sky suddenly brightened, and countless snow-white starlight condensed above the sky, turning into hundreds of snow-white light beams that shot down from the night sky, instantly covering the entire ruined city.
Among them, the seven light beams projected through the Seven Glorious Star Ring were particularly thick and solid.
In the center of the city, the square where the Heavenly Cycle Star Gathering Array was located trembled violently, and all the star stones lit up with a white light beam, shooting toward Han Li in the center.
Eighty-one pillars of starlight struck Han Li's body in unison, and a series of thunderous booms immediately rang out.
Han Li let loose a muffled groan, and a string of crackling sounds rang out from his bones as if they were popping beans.
On the surface of his body, the previously condensed 18 mysterious apertures bloomed at the same time, and a small vortex appeared one after another, attracting the starlight in the sky to condense into it.
Bursts of powerful star power filled his body, and Han Li's profound acupoints immediately felt bloated. It was as if he were a person who had already eaten his fill and was forced to eat another table of chicken, duck, and fish. The taste was unbearable.
A trace of pain flashed in his eyes, and he clenched his teeth, letting the formed mysterious apertures continue to absorb the starlight.
At this moment, the array under his body suddenly trembled, and a void vortex appeared out of thin air under his body. An invisible suction force suddenly whistled out from it, attracting the white starlight that covered the entire square towards Han Li's body.
All of the pillars of snowy-white light raining down from the sky were twisted and warped by this burst of power, and all of them were hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Just then, the Heavenly Cycle Star Convergence Formation was like a vast ocean formed by over 100 waterfalls, and Han Li was like a small boat drifting on the surface of the ocean. All he had to do was to take his time and plunder the water. However, things were different now.
Hundreds of starlight waterfalls poured down at the same time, and the starlight power contained in them was many times stronger than before. An unbearable force came crashing down and fell on Han Li's body.
Under the pressure of this majestic force, Han Li's body couldn't help but lean forward, and his whole body almost fell to the ground.
Strands of incomparably thin starlight threads pierced into every inch of his pores, and blood instantly soaked his clothes.
However, in the blink of an eye, the blood that seeped out was evaporated by the starlight, and disappeared without a trace.
Han Li clenched his teeth, and a low roar came from the depths of his throat. He pressed his hands on his knees, and the veins on his arms bulged as he trembled and slowly pushed his body up.
His skin had already been illuminated by the starlight that had entered his body, and it had almost become translucent. Through a layer of clothes, one could see the blood vessels and bones in his body.
At this moment, Han Li suddenly raised his hand and waved it. A ray of light shot out, and instantly turned into a giant screen. It flew up with a whistling sound, and hovered above his head.
The screen was dark and translucent, and it was inlaid with crystal clear blue beads. It looked like a starry night sky, and it was the same piece that he had taken from the hall where the Great Cycle Star Origin Art was hidden.
The screen hovered above him, and under the illumination of the starlight, all the blue beads burst out with a bright light. A miniature star chart immediately appeared from the screen, sparkling with starlight.
At the same time, the entire screen became increasingly translucent, and finally became completely illusory, turning into a black veil of light that enveloped Han Li.
The starlight that filled the sky fell onto the screen, causing it to undulate like the surface of the sea. Under its protection, the pressure on Han Li's body eased slightly, and it was no longer so unbearable.
He slowly exhaled, and his hands formed a seal. His eyes closed, and he began to wholeheartedly absorb the starlight power.
… …
Time flew, and the years flew by.
At night, Han Li drew starlight from the starry sky to fill his body, and during the day, he used the starstone as the source to cultivate the Great Cycle Star Origin Art day and night. Day after day, without a break.
During the first few years, Han Li would recover a cluster of Time Concealment Runes every year. After that, he would pause his cultivation to go to the garden and attempt to decipher the Dream Concealment Runes on the stone platform, but to no avail.
After that, he knew in his heart that the Netherfrost Immortal Abode in the outside world ought to have closed long ago, whereas nothing unexpected had occurred in this small secret realm, so he instead calmed down and cultivated with all his might. It wasn't long before he'd condensed the 19th profound aperture.
After that, although the Great Cycle Star Origin Art cultivation couldn't be said to be smooth sailing, there were no major twists and turns. Han Li was also immersed in it, and slowly forgot the passage of time.
In the blink of an eye, five hundred years had passed.
On this night, more than a hundred beams of starlight fell from the sky, emitting a snow-white light that illuminated the entire ruined city as if it was daytime.
Han Li sat cross-legged in the middle of the square, shrouded in a white light beam, and his whole body was incomparably transparent, as if he was carved from jade, crystal clear and flawless.
His originally jet-black long hair, scattered behind him, had become like a handful of silver, crystal clear.
At the waist of his body, wisps of starlight condensed, emitting a striking blue light, and a brand new profound aperture was opened.
At this point, all thirty-six profound apertures had been condensed, and the Great Cycle Star Origin Art had finally been cultivated to the great success stage!
There was a soft "ka" sound.
All of a sudden, the black screen above Han Li's head that was acting as a buffer suddenly shattered, and the massive pillar of starlight that had converged toward him also slowly dispersed. In the end, it transformed into a thin layer of hazy light that dissipated into nothingness.
The light of the entire ruined city dimmed, and returned to its original state.
Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and stood up from the ground. The Real Extreme Film that shrouded his whole body was overflowing with light, and became more solid and thick.
He raised his hand and gently clenched his fist, and seemed to hear a slight sound in his ears. Then, a sparkling light condensed in his palm, as if it was filled with a strange power.
He knew that this was because the profound aperture had just been formed, and the power of the stars in his body hadn't yet stabilized, and it would soon return to its original state.
"Although I had expected that this cultivation would consume a lot of time, I didn't expect it to take so long …" Han Li sighed, and muttered to himself.
Then, he slightly raised his eyebrows, and looked up at the deep night sky. Suddenly, he took a step back, raised his fist, and fiercely punched towards the sky.
"Rumble" a loud sound was heard!
An extremely powerful fist aura whistled out, and condensed into a white astral wind that was visible to the naked eye, and rushed straight away.
Bursts of roaring sounds came from the void, and the night seemed to be on the verge of collapsing under the impact of this force. The void seemed to have formed a hollow area that had been blasted out by the fist aura, and the surrounding airflow poured into it, and the whistling sound was heard.
After the white wind flew for hundreds of feet, its power gradually weakened, and finally dissipated.
Han Li looked up at the shaking void, and his eyes flashed with some satisfaction. He slowly retracted his palm.
He didn't use his full strength in the previous blow, but judging from the power of the qi, it was no less than the previous blow he had made when he had cultivated the first half of the Great Heavenly Star Technique.
According to his estimation, if he used all his strength to smash the stone platform at this time, he might not need to advance to the Golden Immortal level to be able to defeat it, but at that time, the entire small secret territory would collapse.
Han Li retracted his hand gesture, and the blue light on his body dissipated, and the Real Polarity Membrane on the surface of his body also disappeared.
Now, his cultivation had reached the peak of True Immortal, and there was only 36 immortal apertures left to open before achieving the Golden Immortal body.
However, since he had cultivated 36 immortal apertures, it was naturally not difficult to condense the last immortal aperture before becoming a Golden Immortal. The only thing that worried him was the last immortal aperture in the three declines, "Aperture Decline".
This tribulation was unavoidable, and it was a bumpy road that he had to go through to ascend to the Golden Immortal level. Although cultivating the immortal aperture and mastering the power of law were beneficial to this, after all, he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, nor had he experienced it personally, so he was still a little worried.
Han Li took a deep breath and raised his head to look at the crescent moon.
He didn't plan to continue cultivating tonight. His figure leaped lightly, and he flew up. After a flash, he landed on the roof of a tall building.